Blue Hawaiian, Blue Galaxy
by possiblycrazee
Summary: The lab rats find out something about Archie... but havethey found the entire truth?


Greg Sanders was in a good mood. A very good mood. There was Blue  
Hawaiian coffee in the breakroom, his I-Pod had fresh batteries and  
he had some killer blackmail material on one of his co-workers. All  
in all, tonight's shift was looking pretty good. Greg whistled a  
jaunty tune as he bounced his way through the lab to the breakroom,  
an inconspicuous, unlabelled DVD tucked under one arm.

Archie Johnson, David Hodges, Jacquie Franco and David Phillips all  
sat in the breakroom nursing mugs of coffee. The only member of the  
motley lab rat crew missing was Bobby Dawson, who had been called  
away almost immediately by a gang of disgruntled CSI's who wanted  
their ballistics results twenty minutes ago. Not one of the lab rats  
looked up in surprise at Greg's cheerful whistling, now accompanied  
by a slightly manic dance routine. They were all used to this sort  
of behavior. They looked up, however, when Greg sauntered into the  
breakroom and greeted them all, not with a cheery 'hello' or a witty  
comment, but with the words…

"Blackmail is such a dirty word… Don't you agree, Archie?"

The lab rats, Archie included, all blinked at him, before Archie  
answered the odd question, "Blackmail? Who's blackmailing you?"

"No-one," Greg grinned happily, "But I have blackmail-worthy  
material."

The lab rats, although used to Greg's occasionally odd comments,  
still stared at him for a moment, before Hodges cut in dryly  
with, "Really? Well, bully for you. Go, then, Blackmailing Avenger,  
and wreak your vengeance on those who spurn you."

The unlabelled DVD came out from under Greg's arm, "Aren't you guys  
even the least bit curious as to what I'm talking about?" he asked,  
a truly evil smirk spreading across his face.

Jacquie sighed, "OK, Greggo, I'll bite. What's on the DVD?"

Greg's evil smirk morphed into an evil grin, the kind that made the  
lab rats want to flinch back, "Ask Archie…"

Jacquie heaved another long-suffering sigh and swung her head around  
to Archie, "Arch? Any ideas? Or is Greg just being more Greg-ish  
than usual?"

Archie shook his head looking confused, "I have no idea what he's…"  
the AV master trailed off, his jaw dropping and face paling, "Oh  
God…"

Greg broke into maniacal, cackling laughter at the horrified look on  
Archie's face, "That's right, Arch! Did you think I wouldn't find  
out? Honestly…"

If looks could kill, Greg Sanders would have been a steaming pile of  
molten goo on the floor, "Greg… hand it over…" the Asian tech said  
through gritted teeth, holding out a hand for the DVD.

"Archie? What's going on?" David Phillips spoke up for the first  
time since Greg had bounced into the room.

"Nothing," Archie told him, eyes dark, "Greg's going to give me that  
DVD, then nothing will be wrong."

Jacquie raised an eyebrow at her normally placid and good-natured  
friend, "Damn, Archie… What's on the DVD that could possibly be that  
bad?"

Hodges grinned evilly, and spoke, completely deadpan, "Archie made  
porn in college."

The entire room collectively choked on their coffee. Except for  
Archie, who was still shooting death-glares at Greg. Seeing an  
opportunity, Archie's hand darted out, snagging the DVD in Greg's  
hand. Greg let out a startled yell, trying to snatch it back, but to  
no avail. Archie let out a relieved sigh and a triumphant grin. He  
took the DVD out of its casing, and held it between both hands as  
though he were going to snap it. Then he paused.

Shooting Greg a look, he calmly pulled a pen out of his pocket,  
flipped the DVD upside down and scratched deep gouges down its  
underside. Greg flinched. Archie then turned it around and repeated  
the process, so that there were deep, cross-hatched scratches  
obscuring any data that may have been stored on it. Archie smiled  
serenely at the spiky-haired DNA tech, before standing up, the  
mutilated DVD held between his hands. Archie's smile grew into a  
grin as he brought his knee up and the DVD down, snapping it into at  
least a half dozen little pieces. The pieces were then scooped into  
Archie's hand and dropped into the bin.

The lab rats blinked at the now-calm Archie, as he sat back down,  
brushing DVD splinters off onto his lab coat, picked up his coffee  
and quietly started sipping it again. Everyone was a little stunned  
by the outburst from their normally peaceful friend. Whatever was on  
that DVD must've been Archie's worst nightmare for him to get that  
worked up about it. Slowly, each of the lab rats reached for their  
own coffees and the breakroom started to go back to normal.

Until Greg broke the silence… with a quote from Kill Bill.

"Silly rabbit, you didn't think it would be that easy, now, did  
you?" he practically cooed.

Hodges snorted, shaking his head. Jacquie grinned. David just raised  
an eyebrow and carried on drinking his coffee, all three used to  
Greg's random movie quotations and inability to handle long  
silences. Archie, however, quickly deciphered the meaning behind the  
silence breaking quote. His head snapped up and he looked at Greg in  
horror, shaking his head and giving him a pleading look.

"I'm sorry, Arch," Greg said with mock-sadness, "I'm so sorry, but  
they have to know…"

Archie's eyes went dark again and his shoulders tensed, "Greg…" he  
ground out.

Jacquie decided to play along, "What is it we have to know, Greggo?"

David, seeing the look on Archie's face, and ever the voice of  
reason, said softly, "I'm not sure I want to know," and quietly left  
the table, heading back down to the morgue.

Hodges raised an eyebrow at the almost-panicking Archie and the  
evilly smirking Greg, "Well, if it's embarrassing enough to put the  
fear of God into a Trekkie… count me in. What've you got, Sanders?"

Jacquie looked between Greg and Archie, "Sorry Arch, but you know  
me, Gossip Queen of the Lab…"

Archie's face turned bright red and he slumped back down in his  
chair as Greg grinned triumphantly at him. Then, with a grandiose  
flourish, Greg pulled a piece of paper out from the inner pocket of  
his lab coat and dropped it on the table in front of Jacquie and  
Hodges. The fingerprint tech and the trace tech just stared, shocked  
into silence for a moment. They looked over at Archie, then back  
down at the piece of paper.

"That's right, oh fellow lab rats," Greg crowed, "Our very own  
Archie Johnson, Master of All That Is Audio and or Visual, was… drum  
roll, please…"

Jacquie broke first, trying to hide her snickers behind her hand.

"… A POWER RANGER!" Greg finished exultantly over the sound of  
Jacquie's giggles.

Those words were enough to send Jacquie and Hodges into fits of  
laughter. Much to Archie's dismay, the two lab rats howled with  
laughter at the poster of a slighter younger version of himself,  
settled into a typical Power Ranger stance. He winced. He knew that  
would come back to haunt him one day. Greg, Hodges and Jacquie were  
still laughing hysterically. He scowled at the three laughing lab  
rats. The poster still sat innocently on the table. Archie looked  
down at his own smiling face. Eyeing off the still laughing lab  
rats, Archie reached for the poster, hoping to make a quick getaway  
into the somewhat safe confines of the AV lab. Greg saw his somewhat  
stealthy movement and snatched the poster out from under Archie's  
fingers, waggling a finger from his spare hand at him.

"Nuh-uh, Arch… this one's going on the noticeboard."

Greg was still giggling, almost doubled over with laughter as the  
still-flushed and utterly mortified Archie made another desperate  
attempt to grab for the poster that represented the AV tech's now-  
shattered dignity.

"It's Morphin' Time!" Greg crowed, still snickering helplessly.

Something inside Archie just snapped. Eyes furious, he darted out a  
hand, grabbing Greg's wrist. Greg's laughter cut off abruptly and  
his eyes went wide as, in one fluid movement, Archie turned, sliding  
under Greg's arm, and tossed the spiky-haired lab rat over his  
shoulder. It was one of the first moves the stunt coordinators on  
the show had taught him. How to hurl a stunty across the room  
without hurting them and still have it look good.

Greg lay stunned on the floor, unhurt, but more than a little  
freaked out. Archie sighed, barely concealing a saddened wince. He  
picked up the poster that had started it all and, still clutching  
it, walked out of the room, silently wishing that he'd done that in  
the first place.

Archie slouched dejectedly back to his domain in the AV lab, failing  
to notice Bobby Dawson's happy smile and cheery wave. Bobby's smile  
turned into a puzzled frown. That sure wasn't like Archie. His lover  
normally favored him with one of his bright smiles and a cheeky wink  
if he were busy, or a quick 'hello, love you' if he wasn't. Locking  
up the gun cabinet and clipping the keys to his belt, Bobby made his  
way out of the ballistics lab and stood in the doorway of the AV lab  
for a moment.

"Arch?" he called softly.

"Greg…" came Archie's long-suffering reply, "If that's you with any  
more 'Morphin' Time!' jokes or questions about my color preferences,  
so help me… I will kick your ass again!"

Bobby raised an eyebrow, "For starters," he drawled, deliberately  
thickening his accent, "Since when do I sound a damn thing like  
Greg?"

Archie spun round in his chair, smiling sheepishly, "Sorry…"

"And for seconds," Bobby interrupted him, putting on a mock-stern  
look, "Y'all went kung fu on Greg's ass and didn't invite me?!"

An unwilling grin crossed Archie's face, "No, Bobby dear, I didn't.  
You would've brought guns. I do my best work with my hands."

Bobby dropped himself gracelessly into the chair opposite Archie,  
practically leering at him, "Oh I know you do…" he smirked.

Archie shook his head, "You know, the others don't believe me when I  
tell them that you aren't the sweet and innocent, butter-wouldn't-  
melt country boy you pretend to be," a brief look of pain flashed  
across Archie's face as he mentioned the rest of the lab rat crew.

Bobby didn't miss Archie's pained look, "Arch? What happened?"

Looking down at his hands, Archie was silent for a moment. Then,  
with a small frown creasing his forehead, he slowly reached for a  
piece of paper that was facedown on one of his consoles.

Bobby sighed, pulling the still-tense Archie against him, "I don't  
know why it bothers y'all as much as it does."

Archie sighed and mumbled something incomprehensible, turning his  
face into Bobby's chest. Bobby let him stay like that for a moment,  
catching sight of the rest of the lab rats moving into the doorway,  
obviously preparing for Round Two of the teasing they'd given Archie  
before. He shot them a dirty look and shook his head warningly.

"Come on, Arch," he said softly, "Talk to me, here. Why's it  
botherin' ya so much?"

Bobby shot his fellow lab rats a significant look as Archie began  
talking, "Because of reactions like that," a hand was flipped in the  
direction of the breakroom, "I know I get ribbed for being a geek  
and a Trekkie, but this is different."

Bobby's face twisted slightly in confusion, "I'm not sure I  
understand, Arch."

Archie sighed, still not noticing the other lab rats, "It's hard to  
explain. It's like…" a frustrated half-growl escaped him, "Hodges'  
comment about the porn."

Bobby blinked, "I'm hearin' what now?"

Archie gave a small snicker, "No… you don't have to worry about Greg  
dancing through the lab with a porn DVD of me. But Hodges said  
something like 'What? Did Archie make porn in college?'" he scowled,  
growing serious again, "I had the opportunity to."

A hand absently came up to rub Bobby's back as the blonde man  
choked, "My dad lost his job, my second semester into college,"  
Archie changed the subject abruptly, "I was working part-time, but  
my parents could barely afford to pay for their rent and food, let  
alone my rent, my food and my tuition."

Bobby nodded, "So you took on that job as well," he said, carefully  
avoiding the show's name, knowing it would make the lab rats, Greg  
at least, start to giggle.

"Yep," Archie said with a sigh, "And you know what gets me the  
most?" he continued, not waiting for Bobby to answer, "If it had  
been porn, the reactions wouldn't have been so bad. I mean, yeah,  
there woulda been some teasing, maybe a couple of people squicked  
out by it… but once I said it was to pay for my tuition and keep  
food on my parents' table, they would've been all 'Hey man, you did  
what you had to…' and it woulda never been mentioned again."

Bobby sighed, "Archie, I don't…" he said, looking over the top of  
the Asian tech's head at the stunned lab rats.

"But…" Archie carried on over the top of him, "Because it was some  
cheesy kid's show, I get ridiculed 'til I snap."

Bobby squeezed the smaller man gently, "I know it's hard," he said,  
shooting the other lab rats a glare over his shoulder, "But pay no  
mind to what they say. I can't speak for them, Arch... but I know  
you. And I know, that if bein' a Power Ranger for three years was  
what you had to do to help your parents, then you did it without  
question or thought."

Archie nodded into his chest, eyes widening slightly. Bobby gave him  
one last gentle hug and stood up. The ballistics tech gave the lab  
rats in the doorway a filthy look, making them all scamper off to  
their respective labs. Bobby gave the still-quiet Archie a small  
smile before heading off to his own lab. Archie sat, silent and  
still, in his chair for a moment, thinking. Did Bobby...? Or was he  
just reading too much into it?

Deciding it was better to be safe than sorry, Archie slid a hand  
down into his shirt, pulling out the leather necklace he always  
wore, its silver key charm tinkling softly against the buttons. He  
undid the clasp at the back and just held it in his hand for a  
moment. Then, almost hesitantly, he bent down, unlocking the bottom  
drawer on his filing cabinet and pulling out a small, familiar  
device. He held it almost reverently in his hand, before pressing a  
button on the side and speaking softly.

"Control, this is Blue Galaxy, come in..."

"We read you Blue Galaxy," came a familiar voice, "Long time since we've  
heard from you, Kai."

Archie sighed, feeling the familiar shudder in the device in his  
hand, "Guys, I think we have a problem..."


End file.
